Show When Worlds Collide f CHAPTER Continued IV-Continued 6 I Glad to see seo you Tony Were We're going Shead ahead with our plans pIans I suppose you OU knew I had been counting on you youIt It For what Tony asked brusquely I For one of my crew You Youie e the 1 health and the mind and the nerve I think Its It's going to take more cour- cour courI I age in the end than stayIng here on the world tor w e wIll all leap wo e-wo wIll shoot ourselves up Into the sky I while the world still seems safe We ot f course before the end and they the end of the titer world word will ne neer er be beJ really belle ed tin till It comes So I need J men of your steadiness and quality I ICan Can I count on you Tony looked him over You can I count on me Mr Hendron I Good I can guess that Eve Iles I acquaInted you with some features or of orthe the disciplIne ot of the League I will tell yoU In n proper time ot of others nothIng will be asked ot of you whIch not be actually reasonable and necessary But now I should advIse you to learn something useful Investment Invest Invest- Investment ment experience and skill sUIl In tradIng will scarcely be nn an asset on Bronson Beta whereas knowledge of I tare and proficiency In manual arts I and elementary mechanics may be ln- ln You have time to learn the simple primary processes by which t ute is maintained You will have I might say approximately two sears ears to prepare before affairs here become so acute with the approach neb ot of the planets Ion their first passage No record could picture a thou thou- part ot of the hanges that came In those two years No single aspect of human enterprise was left J It was now more than a year before the first serious physical manifesta manifesta- manifestations lithe Lions were expected so a statement that Hendron signed merely read It Is still impossible to forecast the entire effect of the approach of I the tho Bronson bodIes Unquestionably they will disturb us greatly We m iy anticIpate as a mInimum the follow tollow- ling phenomena tides whIch will de- de destroy destroy stroy or render uninhabitable all allI I coastal cities and all Inland cities five hundred or more feet ot of sea sea level We base ha no terrestrial prec- prec precedent ledent for tor such tides The existing sIxty foot rIse and tall fall In the Bay ot of Fundy will certainly be trifling in corn com paris on The tides we anticipate wIll wIllbe willAbe Abe be perhaps several hundreds of feet Thigh and will sweep overland with a violence dIfficult to anticipate The second Uon m which will wUl be simultaneous will consIst ot of activity and ot of unpredictable extent and vIolence The I Bronson bodies If they pass passIon Ion on a parabola will approach the earth I twice twIce If however theIr course be- be beI becomes comes be-comes I comes modified Into an ellipse the earth will meet them agaIn In I its ts journey jour jour- ney Dey around the sun DIrect collision with one or another ot of the bodies or grazIng collision due to mutual attraction attraction tion v when hen In proximity pro cannot be re re- regarded as ImpossIble The succession of tides and earthquakes caused by gravity and resultant stresses may in- in instantly Instantly or In due time render the sur- sur surface face tace ot of this globe wholly uninhabitable able atle but we cannot say that there Is no hope Certain steps must be taken All coastal cities In all parts of the world must be evacuated Populaces must be moved to high non volcanic regions ProvIsion for tor feeding clothing and domiciling migrated people must be made madeI I There remains considerable doubt concerning the orIgin and nature of the Bronson bodies Efforts are beIng made to determine their composition but determinations are dIfficult as they are non luminous The scientists of the world are In agreement that the course outlIned I above Is the only logical one to pur- pur pursue pursue sue Since the first approach ot of the Bronson bodies may be expected to take place with effect upon the tides and seaboard on and about the end of next nest summer general mIgration should begin at once On the mornIng succeeding the spread ot of this statement Tony stood tn in the vast populous waiting room ot of the Grand Central station Yesterday I there had been Issued marching orders for tor fifteen hundred millions of human beings It If they did not know that It was to be the end ot of the world at least they were told that It was the end ot of the world as it had been He listened to fragments of at the con conversatIons In progress in his vicinity I II I tell teU you Henry Its It's that's all It If anybody expects me to give up my apartment and pack up my duds and mo mole e oft off one Hundred and first street just because a few gray gray- headed beaded school schoolteachers teachers happen to think theres there's a comet coming then they're crazy crary I IU's Its Us the end that's what It Is and andI andI I for one am glad to see It When the sea starts to rise and the earth starts to splIt open Im I'm going to stand there and laugh Im I m going to say Now what's the good ot of the farm relief reller Now who's going to collect my Income tax Now what does It matter whether we have prohibItion or not not Good Good- Goodby by world That's what Im I'm going to say Good by byI I Good riddance t t I hope it wIpes the whole n d-n thIng as clean as a billiard bill Dont hold my hand so tight Dad Dad- Daddy Daddy dy You hurt me Its ridiculous They've been fight lag about theIr tool fool figures for genera genera- generations They cant can't even tell whether Its It's goIng to rain or not tomorrow How In Inthe inthe the h l cin they say thIs Is goIng to 1 happen GIve a scientIst one idea and By EDWIN BALMER BAL BALand and PHILIP WYLIE CopyrIght by bT EaD Balmer k Philip a lot of trick figures and he goes ha has wire c all I drew It all out and bought gold goldI I got two revolvers I filled the house with canned goods I saId Here you are Sarah Youre Youe been telling me all your me life how wen well you can run thIngs Take the money Take the house Take these two guns Im I'm leaving It If weve we've only got a couple coupIe or of months left Im I'm going to see to It t that I have bave a little fun anyway anway That's what wh I said to her I and by G-d G here I am Tony shook hIs head He rode a long dark tunnel and then I I out t- t tt t t the station Uon at One Hundred and Twenty firth fifth street The train moved past the final outpost tenements Into a verdant landscape wIth the river on one the side Hudson In which tides soon could rIse to S sweep high and far over the Palisades Tony glanced back once toward the teem teem- teeming Ing cIty The first flood would not top those tallest towers etched there the pinnacles ot of mans man's triumphs would for fora fora a while rise above the tides but all the rest Tony turned away and looked out at the river tryIng not to think of It Settled In a chair Tony glanced around the comfortable ot the students student's room and then gazed at atthe atthe the student himself A lanky youth with red hair good humored blue eyes and a sprinkling ot of freckles es that carried car car- carried ried Into his attaIned maturity more than a memory of the childhood he had so recently left Yes Tony repeated Im from Cole Hendron The dean told me about your academIc v work ork Professor Gates showed me the thesIs on Light which I you turned In for your Ph D He said It was the finest thing he had had from the graduate school sInce hed he'd held the chair ot of Ph Physics II Dun Dull red came in the young mins min's face Nothing much I just happened to have an Idea Probably never get another In my lIfe Tony smiled I understand you yon were strobe strohe In n the varsIty crew two years ago That's the y ear y ou were row row- rowIng rowing Ing e out of the water Isn't It There weren't any good crews that year We just happened to have the least bad ones II Tony looked at the youths youth's hands hands nervously clenching and unclenchIng They were powerful hands which nevertheless seemed to possess the capacity for minute adjustment Tony smiled No need of being so modest old fellow Its It's just as I saId Cole Hendron In New York Is getting to together together gether a bunch of people for some work he wants done during the next few months Its It's work worle of a very private vate nature I cant can't ten tell you whit I cant can't even assure sou ou that he Ill v ill accept ac- ac accept you but Im I'm touring around in inthe inthe the attempt to send hIm some likely people You understand that Im I'm not offerIng you a job In the sense Bense Jobs have been offered in the past I dont don't know that any salary is attached to It at all You will Ill be supplied with a place to lIve and provided wIth food if 1 you accept II The tall youth grInned I suppose you know that offering a chance to associate with Cole Hendron to a man manlike manlike like me Is just like offerIng the job of secretary to St Peter to a bishop II M I m m By the way why did you stay here at the university when most ot of the graduate students have bave left No particular reason I didn t have anything better to do The university Is on high ground so It dIdn't seem sensible to move for that reason and andI andI I thought I mIght as well go on with my work II I see Tony His companion hesItated to say what was obviously on his mind but finally broke the short silence Look here Mr Mr-Mr- Drake Tony Drake Drale Mr Drake I cant can't understand why on earth carth Hendron would want me It If he s planning to take a group of people to some safe spot In order to preserve scientific knowledge durIng the next year he can find hundreds of people thousands of people that have more knowledge to save and a better memory to sae It In than I have Tony looked at the blue bue eyes and lIked the J young oung man manlie manlIe lie felt Instinctively that here was one person v whom hom Cole and the committee would surely accept The name of the man before him he recalled as w as Jack Taylor his record for a man ot of twenty five was startling He gunned at the youths youth's speculation Youre a physicist ph Tn Taylor lor If you were In Cole Hendron's shoes and were trying to tale take a group of peo pIe to a place of safety just where here under the circumstances we anticipate would you take them The other man was thoughtful for foran foran an Instant just what worried me I cant can't think ot of any place on onearth onearth earth that would offer a refuge essen essentially satisfactory C Exactly No place on earth Tony emphasized the last two words Jack Taylor frowned ned quickly and suddenly the freckles on hIs face stood out because his color had de- de departed parted God God AlmIghty You dont don't mean to tosu su gest- gest Tony lifted JIlted his hand and dropped It Im offering you a letter that will gh give e you an IntervIew with Cole lIen Ilen dron Do you want to go and see trim hIm roe a minute Taylor did not ans answer er Then he saId disjointedly l ous I My G d just the the man only man I To think that anybody would come around to gh give e me n a shot at such a thing I suddenly filled his eyes and he stood up and walked In two mIghty strides to the window Tony slapped his back See you In New York Better get goIng right righta a away v ay So long old man II Deeply moved proud that any race any civilization should produce hu hu- hu human man beIngs ot of the temper and fineness ot of young Taylor Tony walked out onto the university campus and hue hur- hurried tied ried to keep heep an appointment with an obscure but talented professor ot of chemIstry whose Investigations ot of col col- col colloids olds had placed his name on the long longUst list furnished to Tony by Hendron and his associates Tony having applied himself for tor months to acquIsItion of at the prImItIve proficiencies In growing things and In Inthe inthe the manual arts had found himself appointed by Cole Hendron as hIs per per- personnel personnel officer Tony possessed decIdedly decidedly edly a knack with people and so Hendron was sending him about to recruit young men for tor the extraordinary nary duties ot of the crew of the Space SpaceShIp SpaceShip ShIp Her father tather had asked Eve to sug- sug gest provisionally the women who must go along and Tony had met some whom Eve Dve had selected Strange to think ot of them standing wIth you and with a few other men out of aU all our world s on creation the soil soU of an empty planet What would they be to each other there Stranger still sUll to gaze at night Into the sky and see a spot ot of light be- be beside beside side a brighter orb and realize reaUze that you mIght become a visitor to that spot In the tho sky I Tony returned three weeks later to New York city where Hendron now spent most of his time He had work workshops workshops shops and laboratories started in sev several several eral placeS place'S but the advantage of con conveniences In New York was so great that he had decided not to abandon his work there until later Upon his arrIval In the city late lateon lateon on a July afternoon Tony went at once to see Hendron and lire e He business with none Hendron-none with J rye Je e he merely longed to see her and be with her more than he dared des play Not much was observable observable able In the city The station was as a sea or of people as It had been on the day of t hl his departure The rhe streets were ere more d than normally crowded and his ta made slow progress ess There were three policemen In the front offices ot of the laboratories and he was admitted only after n a walt wait e walte ee I e came Into the tho reception room first and sHook hands bands with Ith hIm coolly that t is outwardly It was as coolly but inwardly Tony felt sure she wax wac trembling e eten en as was lie he Oh Ob Tony she said her voice al almot almost mot most giving wa way I I m so glad to have sou ou back I 1 Itie e read all your reports I Ive read all y our acknowledgements ot of them said buy lony hoarsely It was aU all that had passed between them Re lie Reports ports and acknowledgements In lieu ot of loti 10 e a letters I will be out out Weve We've been working steadily ever since bince YOU FROM THE OPENING CHAPTERS David ease arrIves at New York from South Africa commissioned liver deliver 0 case of photographIc plats plates to t Dr Coo Hendron Tony Drake to de- de de calls at the ap arrives and Eve Hendron Ith whom horn In love Tony Is deeply Introduces Tony to Ransdell Newspapers pUblish by Hendron saying laying that Professor Bronson astronomer has II a statement two planets which vo h been brought brough under the tho attraction discovered result of the Inevitable of our sun Bun The tho earth rth must be the end 1 he approaching bodIes are referred to as Bronson Alpha Bronson of our world Bronson Beta will pass but the other will hit the tho Beta earth devise means of transferring to Bronson Beta is 18 what Is and demolish it it To of the tho members of the tho League of the Last Day OccupyIng the minds left lert You and Dad and I are going to have dinner together tonight Anyone else asked Tony jealously No who bo would there be Your South African I thought probably Not mine Tony l I Your fathers father's then ne Ile keeps him himIn himin In the laboratory for you Hendron hIs hs laboratory apron walked all ed briskly into the front office Hello Heo there Drake I 1 DelIghted to see your back Your have been arrivIng d and we wetie e put them nIl to work Dodson and SmIth and Greve are enthusiastic about them lie looked at hIs watch I the fifty r Ive got J a little work to todo todo do here then we want ant you ou to come up to the house for dinner As Tony unlocked hIs apartment door Kyto sprang to hIs feet I take your presence Kyto saId with It extravagant gratitude Tony laughed itA A bath Kyto a dinner jacket something In the way or of a I highball haven't |